Washington & Jefferson to face Mount without starting quarterback

Saturday

Nov 23, 2013 at 12:57 AM

Washington & Jefferson head football coach Mike Sirianni knows how tough the sledding will be in today’s first round NCAA Division III playoff game at Mount Union Stadium. Sirianni’s Presidents scrimmaged Mount Union before the start of the season. Now he brings his 8-2 squad in minus senior quarterback Matt Bliss, who suffered a concussion in last weekend’s 38-13 win over Waynesburg and is out of action, according to Sirianni.

BY Jim ThomasRepository sports writer

Washington & Jefferson head football coach Mike Sirianni knows how tough the sledding will be in today’s first round NCAA Division III playoff game at Mount Union Stadium.

Sirianni’s Presidents scrimmaged Mount Union before the start of the season. Now he brings his 8-2 squad in minus senior quarterback Matt Bliss, who suffered a concussion in last weekend’s 38-13 win over Waynesburg and is out of action, according to Sirianni.

“I had a (conversation) with Vince (Kehres, Mount’s head coach), that if I didn’t start my quarterback, he wouldn’t start his quarterback,” Sirianni said. “I think that’s fair. I hope Vince does that.

“I know his dad would.”

Siranni was joking. He was a two-time all-conference receiver on head coach Larry Kehres’ first national championship team in 1993. He wouldn’t expect either Larry or Vince Kehres to throw him a bone and asked for none facing the No. 1-ranked Purple Raiders.

“(Bliss) was a key player for us,” Sirianni said of a quarterback who threw for 2,089 yards, completed 64.7 percent of his passes and passed for 18 touchdowns against two picks. “But he had already played all year with a real bad knee. We’ve been prepared for this.”

Washington & Jefferson’s 11th-year coach is prepared to face his alma mater. He won his 100th game two weeks ago and his fifth PAC coach of the year award last week.

Sirianni did say he wished he didn’t have to start freshman QB Pete Coughlin against a Mount defense allowing 12.6 points and ranked fourth in total yards allowed (227.7). Coughlin comes in with one start, against Thiel, and was 5 of 8 for 71 yards in relief of Bliss on Saturday.

“He reminds me a lot of Kevin Burke,” Sirianni said of the Mount Union All-American quarterback. “And I told Pete that. The difference is Kevin is a junior, Pete’s a freshman. He went to a big high school in Western Pa. He has a chance to be a special quarterback.

“Bobby Swallow, who went to West Branch and was an All-American quarterback for us in 2007-08, watched him and said that he couldn’t do the things (Coughlin) could at that age.”

The good news for both Sirianni and Coughlin is W&J have other playmakers on an offense ranked 26th and scoring 38.2 points.

Running back Dion Wiegand and wide receiver Alex Baroffio are the Presidents’ focal points on attack.

A 5-8, 195-pounder from Pittsburgh, Wiegand averages 23 carries, 126.5 yards and two touchdowns a game.

He runs behind a veteran line that had two first team Presidents Athletic Conference tackles in Zach Wildey and Zach Crossey and honorable mentions in center John Wanner and guard Andrew Pingitore.

“He’s a very strong runner,” Vince Kehres said of Wiegand. “A downhill runner who’s got good power in his legs. They have a real improved offensive line. They like to pull and get on your legs.”

Baroffio is W&J’s most veteran performer, a three-time first team PAC selection who recently surpassed 3,000 receiving yards for his career. The 5-10, 185-pounder has 79 catches for 920 yards and eight scores in 2013. Baroffio also scored on a short run out of the Wildcat and returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown to break open the Waynesburg game.

“He’s very good,” Kehres said of Baroffio. “He lines up at quarterback in the Wildcat and is a threat to run. That’s something we’ve got prepare for. He’s also averaging 13.2 a punt return.”

“They are both very good players,” Sirianni said of Wiegand and Baroffio. “They are talented kids who have had great careers for us. We’ll try to get them the ball in space.

“We might be able to shorten the game (that way).”

Sirianni says he sees nothing different in Mount Union under Vince Kehres than he saw under Larry Kehres.

“Look the same to me,” he said. “They’ve got probably the best player in the country in (Burke). Just as good as usual on defense.

“And they’ve improved as the season’s gone along — a trademark of Mount Union teams.”

Minus their senior quarterback, it might seem like W&J doesn’t have a chance. Sirianni still believes.

“We need to have a perfect storm,” he said. “We need to play as good as we can play. We need bad weather, the great equalizer of talent. And we need them to make mistakes.”

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